By: alien
A healthy lifestyle for the ages, well that sounds like a joke to most of us.
Yes, even though we might dread the thought of developing a healthy lifestyle, we all reach a point at some time in our lives that we absolutely must begin to think about our bodies.
We only get one shot at this thing called life and continuing to ignore creating a healthy lifestyle simply won't last for the long haul. For most people it is tough to think about their health because thinking about really means that we must recognize the responsibility we have for working to get healthy. We live in a very fast paced world and frankly the personal cost can be quite high if we become unhealthy.
Maybe it is because of age or maybe it is because of all the people around me are fat.
So at what age do we really start to think about our health and realize we are responsible for caring for this vehicle in which we live? It is typically as we age that we realize that we have something to do and for most of us that means getting up off the couch and getting active.
When your diet goes down hill, the rest of you goes along with it.
We have all known a family member, co-worker or friend who has developed issues with their health. It is tough to think back to when we were young and could eat anything that we wanted and it not make a difference. Fast food three times a day, snacks in between and even a midnight fridge raid never seemed to fill us up or even really budge the scale. But try pushing a few years ahead and the story is drastically different. They say wisdom comes with age and perhaps the same rings true with our health. Getting a little older perhaps makes us a little smarter as we decide to seek that healthy life style.
Let's face it, when your health is lost, life seems quite bleak. If you have a poor diet it doesn't take very long at all for your hair to start to lose its shine, perhaps even begin to thin from poor nutrition, and of course your skin begins to look raggedy and cheap leather tough. The absence of a healthy diet can cause your skin to look like the well aged leather cowboy boots. So you wake up one morning and finally say enough.
So, what do you do?
Change is simply one of the hardest things in life that we ever face. It doesn't matter how hard it is, just make the decision and get it done.
You will be more successful if you will get a partner to follow a healthy life style with it is so much easier to do it with a partner. It will definitely be easier if you live with someone and you both decide to follow a health lifestyle together it keeps you from bringing the poor nutritional foods into the house in the first place.
Where do you start?
So you've made the decision to follow a healthy lifestyle .great news so now what? First of all, start with your physician and get a complete physical. Make sure that you have blood work drawn in order to get a baseline of your overall state of health. It's important to know your cholesterol numbers as well as your overall iron levels, red blood cell count, sugar level and liver function. Suck it up, make the call and schedule a complete physical.
Once you've gotten approval with your physician, the do the research and decide what type of diet you plan to follow. As a general rule, plan to follow a diet that is high is vegetable and fruit. Don't go to extremes cutting out entire food groups. Decrease your overall intake of meat, particularly red meat. Decrease carbohydrates although there is no need to eliminate them completely. Add in some fresh fish and lean cuts of boneless, skinless chicken.
Begin with a simple exercise plan. Walking is a great way to get started and costs nothing but your time and a good pair of walking shoes. Make a decision to walk at least 30 minutes every night, without fail. Your health is worth at least 30 minutes of your time.
The main thing to understand is, change your diet, get more exercise, and listen to your doctor.
After you've gotten comfortable with walking and have been consistent with it, then you might consider taking a look at a local gym. Even hiring a personal trainer is a great place to start.
Purchasing a package of personal training sessions can really help you to learn what to do. Especially if you have not worked out before or in a long time, it is important to work with a professional in order to keep from getting hurt.
A gym that has a pool is an incredible choice since swimming is a great exercise that works your whole body. Don't rush and don't expect too much too soon. Give your body time to get used to the new exercise paces you are throwing at it.
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